Although somewhat of a fossil, this piece
is nonetheless...reflective...of current compositional concerns...

Two primary levels of discourse unfold
throughout: one consisting of two intersecting positive layers, each possessing
a unique set of materials, vectors, etc. and a sort of Ňecho-chamber,Ó onto
which the tendencies of the foreground are projected with an ever-increasing
degree of resolution.After an
initial implosion-process, in which the positive layers are reduced to their
kernel identities, these identities (which previously functioned purely as
markers of points of layer-collision) are expanded, re-configured, and
systematized.However, due to the
limited transformational potential of this atomic vocabulary, as well as the
saturation of the echo-chamber (which eventually
consumes all foreground elements), a state of non-directionality and structural
disintegration ultimately emerges.

Alexander Sigman(1980)
is currently completing his doctorate at Stanford.He has pursued further post-graduate study with ChayaCzernowin at the University
for Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (2007), and attended the one-year
intensive course of the Institute of Sonology at the
Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (Netherlands) during 2007-2008.Prior to Stanford, Sigman
obtained a BM in Music Composition and a BA in Cognitive Sciences from Rice
University.Since 2007, he has
been Co-Editor of Search Journal for New Music and Culture (www.searchnewmusic.org)
and Managing Director of Ensemble Modelo62 (www.modelo62.com).His works have been performed by
renowned ensembles and soloists at major festivals and venues across the US and
Europe.

2. Sebastian Semper

Zusammenzeit(2007)

Ensemble SurPlus

Martina Roth (flute)

Peter Veale (oboe)

Pascal Pons (percussion)

Stefan HŠussler
(violin)

Beverley Ellis (cello)

James Avery (conductor)

ŇGleichzeitigkeit,
die ZeitvorderZeit.Ó

—NiklasLuhmann, Gleichzeitigkeit
und Synchronisation

Sebastian
Semper was born in 1978.From 1998 to 2001 he studied composition at Musikhochschule Kšln with York Hšller
and Peter Eštvšs.During 2001-02 he continued his studies at
C.N.S.M.D.P. with Marco Stroppa and FrŽdŽricDurieux.From 2002 to 2003 he studied musicology
and philosophy at TechnischeUniversitŠt
Berlin.He participated in a
master-class with Brian Ferneyhough (supported by a fellowship
of the FondationRoyaumont)
in 2003.During 2005-06 he
received a fellowship for doctoral studies in composition at Stanford
University, and from 2006 to 2010 he served as teaching/research assistant there. He has
collaborated with James Avery, Peter Eštvšs, Barbara
Maurer, RachidSafir,
Jonathan Stockhammer, Guillaume Bourgogne, SylvioGualda, and Erik Ona, amongst others. His
works have been performed by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble SurPlus,
Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris, Les JeunesSolistes, Thźrmchen Ensemble Kšln, MinguetQuartett, and Mutare Ensemble
Frankfurt, including premieres at the InternationaleDarmstŠdterFerienkurse, Cologne
Opera House, and VoixNouvelles
(Royaumont). His works have been recorded by HR, SDR, WDR, and
Deutschlandfunk.Among SemperŐs musicological
essays, his study of GriseyŐsLŐIc™neparadoxale was published in MusikTexte.

3. Juan Crist—balCerrillo

siempreotracosa (estaci—n
violenta) (2009)

Ensemble SurPlus

Martina Roth (flute)

Nicola Miorada
(clarinet)

Christian Kemper (oboe)

Andrew Digby
(trombone)

Pascal Pons (percussion)

Bodo Friedrich (viola)

Beverly Ellis (cello)

Bernd Schšpflin
(double bass)

Christopher Jones (conductor)

Shortly after finishing this piece, its
title in place, I found the following lines while reading Octavio
Paz:

Hablamossiempre de otrascosas.

[We speak always of other things.]

Abrir el poema en busca de esto y encontraraquello

–siempreotracosa.

[To open the poem in search of this
and to find that

–always something else.]

Increasingly, we tend to see the world
from a standpoint that attaches significance only to what is visible,
measurable, productive.Artistic creation is not exempt from this all-encompassing
perspective, and when it gives way to this powerful point of view much of what
is vital in art is lost.In
effect, art produces—not in the sense of making or
manufacturing—but as a bringing forth of something that is simultaneously
strange and familiar.What we can
encounter in art is a discovery and a recognizing, it can never be measured or
fully grasped.Artistic creation
is an unending questioning that touches us most deeply because it reminds us
and brings us into the proximity of that which otherwise tends to oblivion and
insurmountable distance.

This work is concerned with what the word
imperceptible suggests.We
may view the imperceptible as that which, in some way, always remains at a
distance, beyond oneŐs grasp.It
is not an area onto which compositional preoccupations are imposed, nor a topic
to be researched, nor an inspiration—if these are understood as feeding
on novelty—but it is foremost a longstanding question that remains and
maintains even the oldest work of art alive.It is one of the questions that I try to listen to in my
work.To face the imperceptible:
the possibility of encountering and knowing what always remains unknown.

Juan Crist—balCerrillo (San Luis Potos’, Mexico 1977) studied composition
at the Centro de Investigaci—n y Estudios
Musicales (CIEM) in Mexico City and at IRCAM. He holds an MA in music composition from Stanford University
where he currently pursues a DMA, studying primarily with Brian Ferneyhough and Erik Ulman.He has received numerous grants and
commissions (FONCA ŇJ—venes Creadores,Ó Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical, Festival Radar, Ensemble 3, and IRCAM).Among the performers with whom he has
collaborated are the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble SurPlus, Ensamble 3, Alexander Bruck, Andrew McIntosh, and the Formalist Quartet.

The core material of //ligero// is a harmonic sequence that
progresses according to different levels of Ňharmonicity.ÓThe consonance/dissonance of each chord
in the harmonic sequence is modeled through the observation of a typical
sensorial phenomenon that relates simple integer frequency ratios with
intervallic relationships perceived as smooth
or terse.These ratios are also used to define the proportional
lengths of each section of the piece, as well as the main rhythmic
configuration patterns. When harmonicity is highly
unstable (rather dissonant or inharmonic) the harmonic progression either
starts a new process or extinguishes itself.If harmony is auto-annihilated, it then leaves the space for
sonic materials whose Ňanti-referentialÓnature allows for the possibility of a Ňnon-cultivatedÓ listening,
where sounds and their sources of production are intentionally veiled to
emulate an instrumental acousmatic in which music is
traced from sound and timbral transformations.

Mauricio Rodr’guez
(1976) earned his bachelorŐs degree in Composition at the Laboratory of Musical
Creation led by Julio Estrada at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). He has a masters degree in sonology granted by the Royal Conservatory The Hague in The
Netherlands, where he studied with Clarence Barlow (composition) and Paul Berg
(computer programming).During
2005-2006 he completed the one-year course at the Centre de Creation Musicale IannisXenakis in Paris.Currently he is pursuing the Doctor of
Musical Arts program in composition at Stanford University with Brian Ferneyhough as his advisor.

5. Patricia Elizabeth Mart’nez

Tenuebrillantez /
Tenuous Brilliance (2007)

Ensemble SurPlus

Martina Roth (flute)

Peter Veale (oboe)

Pascal Pons (percussion)

Stefan HŠussler
(violin)

Beverley Ellis (cello)

James Avery (conductor)

Tenuous Brilliance is a tiny light to illuminate the
infinitesimal parts of any instant, and a poetic microscope enabling us to
become aware of the interior of each sound. The work employed the famous 16th
Century In Nomine as its starting
point. The cantus firmus of In Nomine served as the internal root of
Tenuous Brilliance,but at the same time the focus is on the
mutating process into a renewed material.

Patricia Martinez (1973) was born in
Argentina.She is an active
composer of instrumental and electroacoustic music,
an improviser, pianist, and multi-disciplinary artist working especially with
video art and poetry.She is
currently pursuing her doctorate in music composition at Stanford University
with Brian Ferneyhough as her advisor.She served as director and performer of
several experimental ensembles: ZhŽffiro, ThrYzaS, and La Nada. She is a singer in and director of the Seraphim Ensemble (new
early music) and, since 2001, a member and organizer of FASE (a non-profit
organization concerned with artistic politics).

Martinez studied at the Municipal
Conservatory of Buenos Aires, Quilmes University, and at the Annual Course in
Computer Music at IRCAM (Paris).Her honors include first prize at The International Young ComposersŐ
Meeting (Holland); Diffusion (Ireland); residence at the International
Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Bourges);
Pierre Schaeffer International Competition of Computer Music; the Ň60 seconds
international piano composition competitionÓ (Paris New Music Review); first
prize at the National Composition Competition J. C. Paz; first prize Tribune of
Electroacoustic Music (TRIME), Argentine Tribune of
Composers (TRINAC), and Tribune of Argentinean Music (TRINARG); SonoImagenes; and the first prize of the Buenos Aires City
Government.Fellowships and
commissions include IRCAM, VCCA/UNESCO-Aschberg; Yvar Mikhashoff Trust For New Music Foundation; National Fund of the
Arts, University of Quilmes; Luigi Russolo
Competition; Antorchas Foundation; and De Ereprijs, Culture Fund BA.Martinez has participated in events and festivals in France,
the US, Holland, Brazil, the UK, Costa Rica, Perś,
Chile, and Argentina. See also: www.myspace.com/patriciaelizabethmartinez

6. Kristian
Ireland

clearing (I) (2007)

The Formalist Quartet

Mark Menzies
(violin 1)

Andrew Tholl
(violin 2)

Andrew McIntosh (viola)

Ashley Walters (cello)

The string quartet clearing (I) is
an amplification of a violin solo of the same title, a
solo that appears in only slightly altered form as the 1st violin part of the
quartet.The 1st violin part
begins with a passage (heard in reverse measures) from yet another work, the
larger ensemble piece floors and walls.In clearing, this passage is transformed through
being partially reversed and marked by insistently regular bowing.However, its identity is gradually
subsumed by that of another motivic material present at the outset.In all instances, the string writing is deliberately
limited: particular playing techniques are regarded as expressive distractions
and excluded entirely.The title
of the work refers, in translation, to the final word of Thomas BernhardŐs
novel Korrektur(Correction).

The work clearing (I) was written
for and premiered by the Arditti Quartet in
Luxembourg, 2007.The Formalist
Quartet gave their first performance of clearing (I) at Stanford
University in 2008 and have since given several further performances in
California and during a 2009 East Coast Tour of the US.

Kristian IrelandŐs music has been performed in
Europe, Japan, the US, and Australia by leading exponents of contemporary
music.Ireland (born 1975) is
currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Stanford University,
having studied primarily with Brian Ferneyhough.At present he is an exchange scholar at
Harvard University (2009-2010), studying with ChayaCzernowin.Ireland was an artist in residence at The Banff Centre (Canada, 2009)
and at the DenkmalschmiedeHšfgen
(Germany, 2008).He was a finalist
in DerStaubachpreis
competition (Darmstadt, 2008) and a 2003 Japan Foundation Fellow.IrelandŐs music has
been performed by ensembles such as the Arditti
Quartet, Ensemble SurPlus, Ensemble fźrNeueMusik
Zźrich, The Formalist Quartet, Aphids Trio, and Speak Percussion, among others.

<541> is a
concert series dedicated to performances of challenging music by students at
Stanford University.Composers in the Stanford community produce pieces that reflect a broad
range of aesthetic issues.The
<541> CD project aims at being an ongoing account of this multiplicity of
musical concern with each CD being made up largely of performances recorded in
<541> concerts.

We would like to thank many people who
have been involved with the realization of these concerts and of this
recording, above all the administration of Stanford University for its generous
financial underwriting of the project.Many individual members of the Music Department have unstintingly given
of their advice and support, including Mario Champagne, Stephen Sano, Mark
Applebaum, and Christopher Jones.These concerts benefited hugely from the untiring technical support of
Mark Dalrymple.Our special thanks are also due to Philip Blackburn and Innova Recordings for making this series possible.